I go in pilgrimage
Across an old fenced boundary
To wildness without age
Where, in their long dominion,
The trees have been left free.
They call the soil here “Eden”; slants and steeps
Hard to stand straight upon
Even without a burden.
No more a perfect garden,
There’s an immortal memory that it keeps.
I leave work’s daily rule
And come here to this restful place
Where music stirs the pool
And from high stations of the air
Fall notes of wordless grace,
Strewn remnants of the primal Sabbath’s hymn.
And I remember here
A tale of evil twined
With good, serpent and vine
And innocence of evil’s stratagem.
I let that go a while,
For it is hopeless to correct
By generations’ toil,
And I let go my hopes and plans
That no toil can perfect.
There is no vision here but what is seen:
White bloom nothing explains.
-From “Sabbaths – 1979, IV,” Wendell Berry
The transition to a six-day schedule at St. Mark’s this year has been challenging; I’m not sure we fully anticipated the challenge this change poses to our community, especially, in light of the pandemic. As a community, there’s a feeling of cognitive dissonance, as we try to make sense of how quickly time has passed during a pandemic that seemed to drag on endlessly.
Many VI Formers, for example, walked on campus this fall for the first time since the spring of their IV Form year. Furthermore, some of our new III Form students haven’t been to a full week of school since seventh grade.
Additionally, international students miss being twelve hours ahead, with more time to prepare, sleep, and enjoy home-cooked meals. With the quarantine laws set to twenty-one days in many of their home-countries, many international students may not be able to see their families until the summer. These burdens weigh heavily on our international community, adding to the difficulties of the transitions this fall. Needless to say, the return to a full schedule has been made even more difficult by the six-day schedule as we continue to adjust to the “new normal” and the disruptions caused by the pandemic gradually recede.
In my Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (JCI) class last week, we discussed the Jewish concept of Sabbath. Every student lamented at how little time they have in the week to be alone, to rest, and to find time for renewal. One student suggested that Sabbath needn’t only be an event or ceremony, but could also be a mindset.
Using this idea, we brainstormed ways we can cultivate Sabbath peace in the way we live our lives each day. As Wendell Berry writes: we can “leave work’s daily rule” and find “restful places where music stirs the pool.” Too often, Berry suggests, we look for ways to work harder, rather than finding ways to let go of “hopes and plans” in order to rest. As we continue to readjust to a six-day boarding school, our class discussed how we can create spaces in our lives that help lessen our burdens and allow us to find sabbath peace and healthy habits of mind in the time we are allotted for rest. How might all of us shift our mindsets each day to find more space for Sabbath peace?
